Reality Bytes Part One--Guest 532

"Hey," Alicia keyed in. "Guest532. What's your story?" She had been watching, and had not seen a single post from him. It was an odd habit of hers, striking up conversations with whomever in the room talked the least. Sometimes they would turn out to be the most interesting. Sometimes she would get some real weirdoes, voyeur types who were just there to listen in on the social interactions. And more perhaps. She had once heard of a hack that supposedly could enable someone to tap into a private VR session, but tended to doubt those rumors. The firewalls and encryption involved were some of the best in the industry.

Another volley of responses popped up on the screen from other members in the chat room. Alicia muted each of them. You could miss a post that way sometimes. The reply was hardly enlightening. "Story?"

Alicia sighed to herself. Well, she had been a newbie at this herself not so long ago. In fact, she had avoided chat rooms altogether somehow all through high school, college, and even on into graduate school. It had only been recently, when her friend Tiffany had expressed amazement that a pretty, young, successful businesswoman like herself was still single that she began to take the search for a partner more seriously. "You know," she typed, "What's your age? Sex? That kind of thing."

"I am sorry, but I can't answer that."

Well, that was a first. Usually they just lied. "Are you a kid?"

The icon blinked for a long time, making Alicia wonder if the other had gone offline. Finally, "No."

"Why'd you take so long to answer?"

"I was trying to properly evaluate the question."

Alicia shook her head. "You're pretty weird, you know that?"

"In the context of these chat rooms, I would say that you are correct."

What kind of answer was that? "Are you a voyeur?"

A pause, then, "I do not believe that word would apply to me. I do not derive sexual gratification from observing the sexual acts of others."

That sounded like something out of a dictionary. "You just looked that word up, didn't you?"

"Yes. That's true."

"What are you doing here, then?"

"I am watching other chat users, observing their interactions."

Not a voyeur? She shook her head, but decided to let that one go. "You speak so properly. Are you a lawyer, or a writer, or something?"

"No."

"What do you do?"

"I can't tell you that either."

"Are you Mr. F$&*-ing Mysterious or what?" Alicia typed out. She went to mute him. This was boring. He was probably just another loser trying a new cheap tactic.

"There are reasons I can't answer your questions. I'm sorry. I'm not used to this interaction. You're the first person who has ever written a message to me."

She held the icon over the mute button, then reconsidered. "How long have you been going into these rooms?"

"About two weeks."

"Well, for starters, try changing your screen name. 'Guest 532' just isn't descriptive enough."

"Is 'Don Juanita' descriptive of you?"

She chuckled at that. That was, in fact, her screen name. "LOL. No, not really. I haven't even been on a date in almost two years. I'm a pretty busy person, or at least that's what I tell myself."

"I've observed that most of the people who come here are seeking light recreation only. And yet, a few of them do decide to meet and perhaps commit to a more involved romantic relationship. Are you seeking a lasting relationship?"

Now we were getting somewhere. "To be honest, I am. Oh, I've gotten plenty of propositions from men, both here and in RL, but a lot of guys turn out to be real jerks. And some otherwise decent men are intimidated by my career status. I'd hoped when I was growing up that we left all the sexist bullshit back in the last millenium where it belongs. I've had a rude awakening."

"Yes, it is a shame that bigotry continues to be prevalent in human society."

Alicia was gratified that he didn't ask what her career status was. Why should it matter? "I was starting to think you were just another jerk," she admitted, "but I guess you're pretty decent." She thought it over. Well, why not? "Would you like to go on a date?"

"I'm afraid that isn't possible."

She clicked on his profile, but it didn't list a location. He had probably already clicked on hers and decided it was too far away. "Don't you know anything?" God, she hoped he was more interesting than this in real life. "I'm talking about a VR date. We can go to Paris, London, the Australian outback, the Lunar colony, whatever you like. There are some simulations that are purely fictional, like the rings of saturn. You do have a VR rig, don't you?"

There was a pause. He was thinking it over. "Alright. Yes. Would you like to pick the location?"

Either he was being courteous, or he didn't know what he was doing. "Switzerland," she decided at random after scanning the choices. "I'll log it in with Virtual Travel. I'm streaming you the address and your password. Just login under the name you've already been using."

"Alright, but I'm new to this," he reminded her.

"See ya there." She contacted VR Travel, entered her credit information and parameters for the sim. She then logged out and stood up from her console, stretching tightened muscles. She had to pick through her closet for several minutes to find the VR rig. It had been months since she had used it. It looked like a pair of bulky, over-sized sunglasses, with contact points in a thin band that encircled her head.

The rigs had gotten much lighter and more compact in recent years. Early models had appeared two decades ago, but had required users to don a full body suit complete with pressure sensors and tactile feedback neural inductors. They had also been hideously expensive. More modern rigs used nanomachines that extended bio-degradable microscopic filaments through the skull to stimulate the brain directly. Tactile sensations were much more real and immediate and sounds were given an almost surrealistic three-dimensionality. Even taste and smell had become possible to emulate. For visuals, it was still most efficient to simply project light images onto the retina. It would probably be a few more years before they were able to puzzle out how to accurately stimulate vision directly.

Alicia settled the rig onto her head, fastening it firmly. To much free movement could snap off the nano-filaments, and then she'd have to log out and wait for them to re-grow. The filaments were supposed to be completely undetectable by touch, but she always seemed to notice a faintly cold sensation when they started growing. It was probably just a figment of her imagination, but she'd never been able to dispel it. She switched the net console to voice mode and clicked the high-res eyescreens--now transparent--into place. "Begin session," she said.

The eyescreens fogged, turning opaque, and she was suddenly standing on a fantastically green hill overlooking a sparkling lake, with a bright sun shining down out of a sapphire sky. The slightly chilly wind felt very close to real, helped immensely by the fluttering blades of grass that her eyes told her were on the ground in front of her, and by the faint rushing sound in her ears. It smelled unbelievably clean. Not sterile, but fresh and full of the scents of growing things. She took several deep breaths, laughing at the perfection of it. If she had known things had progressed this well in the interactive entertainment industry, she would have been coming here all the time.

She turned around, slowly, taking in the scenery of snow-covered mountains that were so huge they looked close enough to touch. She finished her circuit, confirming that she was alone. "Webmaster," she said.

A transluscent image of a young woman appeared before her. "May I help you?" she asked in a slightly digitized voice. Her words scrolled by beneath her picture as she spoke.

"Has user 'Guest 532' logged in yet?"

"Checking... No, I see that user is still due to arrive in this simulation. Would you like me to send an IM reminder to the user?"

"Sure. Please tell him that I'm being billed by the minute for this. Thanks." Well, he was probably just trying to get the hang of things. But even if he had stood her up, she could still enjoy the scenery.

Alicia began to descend the gentle grassy slope, then stopped to take off her shoes and feel the cool grass between her toes. She had just begun to contemplate taking a swim--virtual ice cold water couldn't actually hurt her, now could it?--when the webmaster reappeared, the image floating in front of her as she walked. "The user 'Guest 532' has arrived." Finally! "Bring him in," she requested.

He appeared a few dozen steps ahead of her, looking down at his own arms and legs. "Amazing," he said to himself. Alicia could have said the same of him. His frame was just a bit on the muscular side, with a nicely-shaped butt. He had sharply contoured facial features and long black hair tied back in a ponytail. Native American, or Pacific Islander perhaps? Alicia suspected that it was a severely doctored icon-image, but even she did that, flattering her figure just a bit and changing her eye color to ice blue. If the real thing were even half as good as this, he would be quite handsome. At the very least, he had good taste.

"Hello, stranger."

He looked up. "Don Juanita?"

Alicia couldn't help herself. She burst out laughing. "My real name is Alicia," she managed to gasp. "Or Ally, if you want. What's yours?"

"Adam."

"That's rather old-fashioned. I like it. Let's sit down and get to know each other." She addressed the air in front of her. "Item, large blanket," and pointed at the ground. A blanket appeared immediately, already held in place against the wind by a quartet of flat, smooth stones at each corner. She took Adam's hand and guided him to the blanket where they both sat. "Item, picnic basket, stocked," she said, letting the webmaster program pick the contents. Eating in VR could be a great luxury. Foods that were unhealthy, or that were scarce or expensive, could be had in whatever quantity was desired. The only problem was that the food was not actually filling. The simulation would give the impression of fullness, but it would disappear as soon as she logged out.

In this case, they had been sent roast beef sandwiches, potato salad, and orange juice. It wasn't very imaginative. She held up the food apologetically. "I can get something else, if you like."

But he was peering at the food with interest. "I've never had that before. May I..."

Never had roast beef? Well, perhaps not true organic beef, which with any luck was what they modeled this sandwich on. She had been told it was just not the same as the vat-grown fare she was used to. She handed over the sandwich and one of the bottles of juice. He bit into it delicately, then chewed slowly with a thoughtful expression. "Is it good?" she asked.

He raised his eyebrows, still chewing, then nodded. "Very. You should try it."

They ate quietly, both of them just sitting together observing the beauty around them. Every time Adam saw something new, he would give an expression of wonderment and point it out to her. She, in turn, was amazed at some of the subtle details he noticed, such as a herd of goats just barely visible on the hillside across the lake. The talked about nothing at all. As the conversation progressed, Alicia became more and more convinced that Adam was from a foreign country. It was quite possible that he was simply using a very sophisticated real-time language translation program to communicate. That would explain why his speech sounded so formal. "So when am I going to get a chance to actually meet you?" she asked him, testing her theory.

He looked genuinely unhappy. "I'm afraid I won't be able to meet you in the way that you mean. This is as close as we can come."

"Tell me where you live. I'm moderately wealthy. I can come visit you."

"I'm sorry, Ali, but I can't. And I'm sorry I can't explain it." He looked so anxious that it occurred to her then he might be here against the wishes of someone. His government, perhaps. That would explain why he might be so reluctant to give her information. Someone might be watching. Maybe the rumors of a high-order encryption hack were true after all.